SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth football team hits the road for a Northwest Conference contest at Willamette University this coming Saturday. The Pirates and Bearcats will be meeting for the 61st time. The game will kick off at 1:00 pm and can be heard live on KSBN 1230am and on KSBN.net.
Whitworth (3-0 overall, 1-0 NWC) is coming off a 42-13 win over Pacific Lutheran on Saturday in the Pine Bowl. The Bearcats (1-3, 0-1) are looking to bounce back from a 70-14 loss at Linfield. Saturday is Willamette's first home game of the season. Check the Whitworth football schedule above for live coverage of the game.
The Pirates: Whitworth opened a 35-13 halftime lead, thanks in part to a fumble return for a touchdown on the final play of the first half, on the way to a 42-13 win over PLU in the Northwest Conference opener for both teams in the Pine Bowl.
The Pirates had their most successful day running the football so far this season, accumulating 167 net yards and scoring three touchdowns on the ground. Solomon Hines accounted for 79 yards and one touchdown, while Luis Salgado ran for 74 yards and a score. Austin Ewing completed 15 of 23 passes for 142 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for a score. Ryan Blair saw action at QB as well and completed 5 of 12 passes for 62 yards with one interception. Tight end Isaac Fields led the Bucs with six catches for 45 yards, while Evan Liggett caught four passes for 89 yards and a score. Dillon Kuk caught his fourth touchdown of the season. Whitworth controlled the line of scrimmage throughout most of the game, leading to significant advantages in first downs (24-15) and time of possession (36:04 – 23:56).
Whitworth forced four turnovers on defense and special teams. None was bigger than Dylan Owens' strip sack on the final play of the first half that JT Muñoz picked up and ran for a 33-yard touchdown to give the Pirates a 35-13 lead at the break. Only seconds before PLU had pulled within 28-13 on a 95-yard touchdown pass and the Lutes would be getting the ball to start the third quarter. Whitworth also ended that first drive of the second half when Dylan Ventress forced a fumble that was recovered by Nathan Hummel at the Pirate 15-yard line. Daniel McKeirnan intercepted his third pass of the season, which leads the Northwest Conference. Joshua Lawson led the defense with eight tackles. Whitworth held PLU to only 4 of 13 on third down conversions and limited the Lutes to only one score in five trips to the red zone.
There were some big plays in special teams as well. Solo Hines blocked a field goal attempt and recovered the ball himself on PLU's first possession. That first possession might have been a kickoff return for a touchdown if not for kicker Iden Bone making a one-on-one TD-saving tackle at the Whitworth 42-yard line. After Whitworth took a 28-13 lead, Cameron Sheley forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and Zach Brooks recovered for the Bucs. Bone made all six of his extra points and averaged 52.3 yards per kickoff.
Team Captains: The Pirate team captains in 2023 are WR Dylan Ashbeck and QB Ryan Blair from the offense and safety Atticus Templeton and CB Tiliti Adams from the defense. A special forces captain will be selected on a week-by-week basis. Last game was running back Luke Roberts.
Whitworth's special teams captains, week by week: Sept. 2 – LS Marcus Viramontes; Sept. 9 – KR Cameron Sheley; Sept. 16 – LB Zach Brooks; Sept. 30 – Luke Roberts.
Leading the Evergreen State: Since Rod Sandberg took over as head coach in 2014, Whitworth has the best winning percentage of any football playing university in Washington State. Heading into 2023, the Pirates are 64-21 since 2014, a winning percentage of .753. That figure is better than the University of Washington (73-37, .664), Washington State (61-46, .570), Eastern Washington (72-35, .673), Central Washington (59-28, .678), Pacific Lutheran (34-42, .447) and Puget Sound (33-48, .407).
400+: Whitworth won for the 400th time in school history on October 16, 2021 vs. PLU. The Pirates' all-time record in football now stands at 410-417-18. The last time Whitworth was over the .500 mark in football was 1928, when the Bucs were 32-31-2 all-time following an 0-3 season. Whitworth won its 100th game in 1959, during Heritage Gallery member Sam Adams' second season. The 200th victory came in 1981 under Bruce Grambo and the 300th win came in 2006 when John Tully led the Pirates to an 11-1 finish. It took 55 years to get the 100th win, 22 more to get to 200 and 25 to get to 300. It took Whitworth only 15 years to get to 400. In 1997 Whitworth's all-time record in football was 248-337-18, 89 games under .500.
Nine in a Row: With the win over Pacific (Ore.) last November, Whitworth clinched its ninth consecutive winning season under head coach Rod Sandberg. That extended the longest streak of winning campaigns in school history. The previous long streak of seven was set between 1959 and 1965.
West Coast Crossover: September 16th was part of a crossover weekend between the Northwest Conference and the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. In addition to Whitworth's 24-17 win at Chapman, Pacific Lutheran defeated California Lutheran and Linfield won at Redlands. George Fox lost at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Pacific (Ore.) fell at Pomona-Pitzer and La Verne won at Puget Sound, ending the weekend with three victories for each conference. Last season the NWC went 6-1 against the SCIAC on the crossover weekend, including Whitworth's 12-7 win over CMS.
Looking Back at 2022: Whitworth posted its ninth consecutive winning season under head coach Rod Sandberg, extending the longest stretch of winning campaigns in school history with a 28-17 win at Pacific (Ore.) on Nov. 5. A season-ending 28-14 loss to George Fox dropped the Pirates from a tie for second place to fourth place in the final Northwest Conference standings. Whitworth suffered back-to-back losses to Linfield and Pacific Lutheran early in the NWC schedule, costing the Pirates a chance at the league title. Whitworth opened the season with a 35-17 loss at eventual NCAA Division III playoff participant Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) before defeating Eastern Oregon and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Winning the Opener: Whitworth has won eight of its ten season-openers under head coach Rod Sandberg, including last week's win at Eastern Oregon. The Pirates are 5-1 at home and 3-1 on the road. Whitworth's only season-opening losses under Sandberg came in 2016 and 2022.
On the Air Again: Whitworth's games will once again be carried live this season on KSBN 1230am in Spokane. The relationship between Pirate athletics and KSBN goes back to 1994, a span of nearly 30 years. Bud Nameck, familiar to listeners in Spokane as the (now retired) longtime host of the KXLY 920am Morning News, is in his ninth season as the voice of the Pirates in 2023. He was the voice of Washington State University men's basketball for 22 years, and spent that same amount of time on the Cougar football broadcasts – the final three on play by play. He is a longtime resident of the Inland Northwest who began his career as the Sports Information Director and radio voice of Gonzaga University basketball and baseball in the 1980s.
One SWX Broadcast: Local cable station SWX will carry Whitworth's Homecoming contest against Puget Sound on October 14th. SWX stands for Sports & Weather Right Now and is owned by local NBC affiliate KHQ channel 6. SWX can be seen both over-the-air and through some cable services in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene, Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, and Yakima viewership areas. In the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area, SWX is found on digital channel 6.2, on Comcast channel 112 in Spokane and Time Warner channel 306 in North Idaho.
The Head Coach: In nine seasons Rod Sandberg has entrenched himself in the Whitworth and NCAA record books as the Pirates' head football coach. Sandberg has guided the Pirates to a 64-21 record over that span, including two appearances in the NCAA Division III playoffs (2015 and 2018). He is in second place in total victories in school history and no Pirate coach reached 50 victories as quickly as Sandberg. Sandberg's winning percentage of .753 is the best among Whitworth coaches with at least five seasons and currently ranks among the top 20 active coaches in all of Division III. He coached the Pirates to only the fourth unbeaten regular season in school history (9-0) in 2018 and only the second NCAA playoff victory (48-6 over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps). The Bucs' 15-game winning streak, counting the final five games of 2017 and the first ten of 2018, is the second-longest in school history. Whitworth was 6-4 in 2014, Sandberg's first season, the best first-year record for a Pirate football coach since Rod Enos led the team to a 6-3 mark in 1965. Sandberg spent 19 seasons on the defensive staff at Wheaton College (Ill.), including the last 11 as defensive coordinator. Wheaton made the NCAA Division III playoffs five times during Sandberg's tenure as defensive coordinator. The team never lost a first round playoff game and reached the Division III semifinals in 2008 and quarterfinals in 2003. Sandberg's 2007 and 2013 squads led the Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, regarded as one of the strongest football leagues at the Division III level, in scoring defense. The Thunder were second in the league in scoring defense five other times.
The Bearcats: Willamette is 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the NWC following last Saturday's 70-14 loss at Linfield in both schools' NWC opener. The Bearcats opened the season with a dramatic 24-21 win at La Verne, then dismissed head coach Isaac Parker without making an official statement. Defensive Coordinator Tim Rude has stepped in as the interim head coach since then. Willamette averages 13.0 points and 192.5 yards per game. The Bearcats are allowing 44.5 points and 404.8 yards per contest.
A pair of former Whitworth receivers are now playmakers for Willamette. Tyler Epefanio (11 receptions, 142 yards, 1 touchdown) and Matthew Fiesta (8 receptions, 46 yards) rank only behind Justin Genovia (14 receptions, 130 yards, 1 touchdown) in pass catches for the Bearcats. Two freshmen have split time at quarterback. Micah Ho'Omanawanui has completed 29 of 63 passes for 272 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions. Max Grizzell is 14 of 24 for 115 yards with one TD and two interceptions. Junior RB Gabriel Herrera has rushed for 306 yards (4.0 ypc) and two scores. On defense, senior LB Like La'Akea leads the team with 29 tackles, including 2.5 for losses of 12 yards. Junior DB Landon Waters has two interceptions and three other pass breakups.
Willamette fell behind 40-7 at halftime at Linfield on the way to a 70-14 loss to the Wildcats. Linfield held a 516-154 edge in total offense and averaged 8.3 yards per play. Ho'Omanawanui completed 7 of 14 passes for 37 yards as the starter, while Grizzell completed 7 of 10 for 35 yards and a touchdown as the backup. Genovia caught five of the passes for 31 yards. Herrera ran for 43 yards and a touchdown. Junior DB Hogan Smith had 11 tackles, while junior LB Michael Moreno had three tackles, including a 15-yard sack, forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Last Meeting: Down to a fourth string QB who had never taken a varsity snap, Whitworth turned to a wildcat formation on offense and used it effectively in a 42-14 win at Willamette last season, the Pirates' ninth consecutive win over the Bearcats.
Whitworth generated 484 yards of offense, including 323 rushing yards, the most running yards for the Bucs since Oct. 5, 2019. Noah Stifle, that fourth string QB, performed as needed. He completed 12 of 19 passes for 160 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He was sacked once. That TD pass was a 43-yard completion to Ethan Peloquin in the fourth quarter. Solo Hines dominated while running out of the wildcat formation. He carried the ball 15 times for 243 yards with four touchdowns, averaging 16.2 yards per carry. Dylan Ashbeck also took snaps in the wildcat formation. He ran four times for 36 yards and completed his only pass, a one-yard touchdown to Isaac Fields. Overall, Whitworth averaged a season-best 8.1 yards per play.
The Whitworth defense controlled most of the game, holding Willamette to 282 total yards and 1 of 16 on third down conversions. The Bearcats put together back-to-back scoring drives late in the third quarter and early in the fourth, but had little other success. Dylan Ventress led Whitworth in tackles, finishing with 11 total stops.
Whitworth missed a field goal attempt in the second quarter, only the second miss of the season. Jarvis Natividad returned four punts for 35 yards, but also lost one on a fumble. He returned three kickoffs for 71 yards.
The Series: Willamette University is Whitworth's second-oldest continuing rival. The teams first met on the field in 1908 and Whitworth won 18-0. The biggest Pirate win in the series was 82-7 in 2019. The biggest Bearcat victory was 67-0 in 1912. Willamette holds a 33-26 edge all-time, but the Pirates have won the last nine matchups, the Bucs' longest winning streak in the series. Willamette's last win over Whitworth came in 2013 in Salem by a score of 50-21.
Coming up next: Whitworth will host Puget Sound on October 14th to celebrate Homecoming and Hall of Fame Day.
